USC Media and Public Relations

The New York Times featured philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, who recently endowed the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. USC Thornton School Dean Robert Cutietta, who will be dean of the new dance school, said that Kaufman’s gift will support the construction of a new building — the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center — and the creation of a program combing artistic instruction with business training. “These dancers will be known all over the world,” Kaufman said. “And L.A. will now have the reputation of being a little more cultural.”

The Wall Street Journal highlighted an op-ed by Edward Kleinbard of the USC Gould School suggesting that President Obama issue “scrips” — essentially IOUs — to resolve the debt ceiling problem. “The scrip would not violate the debt ceiling because it wouldn’t constitute a new borrowing of money backed by the credit of the United States,” he wrote. The op-ed was also covered by The Washington Post, New York, National Journal, two stories in The Atlantic (second link here), Forbes, Voice of Russia (Russia), American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” National Review, The Week, three Business Insider stories (additional links here and here), The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and Pacifica Radio Los Angeles affiliate KPFK-FM’s “Background Briefing.”

The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Lawrence Harris of the USC Marshall School about relief program costs for regions devastated by Hurricane Sandy. “Unfortunately, neither the federal government nor its taxpayers have bottomless pockets,” Harris wrote. “Spending for any one purpose ultimately limits spending for all other purposes.”

KQED-FM’s “Mind/Shift” featured Participatory Learning and You (PLAY), an educational strategy developed by Henry Jenkins and Erin Reilly of the USC Annenberg School. They conducted a series of studies on engaging students in the classroom with collaborative, creative assignments. “PLAY describes a mode of experimentation, of testing materials, trying out new solutions, exploring new horizons,” Jenkins said. “It’s about a shift in how they think rather than thinking that tech is going to save them or that they need to learn all these tools in order to play, in order to experiment and tinker,” Reilly added.

Los Angeles Times quoted Kevin Starr of the USC Dornsife College about late TV host Huell Howser.

Los Angeles Times quoted Steven Anderson of the USC School of Cinematic Arts about the Cinemax series “Banshee,” which places a code for viewers to find in the opening credits.

NPR Boston affiliate WBUR-FM interviewed USC Dornsife College Dean Steve A. Kay about circadian rhythms and the best timing for meals and sleep.

Reuters quoted Lawrence Harris of the USC Marshall School about automated stock exchange systems. Bloomberg News also quoted Harris.

The New Republic ran a book review by Jacob Soll of the USC Dornsife College of Ben Kafka’s “The Demon of Writing: Powers and Failures of Paperwork.”

Yahoo! News ran a column by Susan Estrich of the USC Gould School about the depiction of torture in the film “Zero Dark Thirty.”

The Hollywood Reporter reported that playwright David Auburn has signed on to write the script for the film adaptation of “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness of the USC Dornsife College.